Things To Do In London Today: 4 February 2013


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GIVE BLOOD: Donations needed, and gratefully received, at Brewers Hall in the City, Freemasons Hall in Holborn and the West End Donor Centre in Margaret Street. Free, just turn up, check times

ART: Transcending Boundaries is a small pop-up exhibition of contemporary west-African art, on today until 9 February at The Gallery, Cork Street. Free, just turn up, 10am-6pm

CLASSICAL: Tickets for the Barbican's Classical Music Season go on general release today.

HISTORY: Frederick the Great and Prince Henry of Prussia are the subject of the annual LGBT History Month lecture, at the Wallace Collection. Free, prebook, 6pm

MATHS: Want to impress your friends by solving complex calculations instantly in your head? You should probably examine your priorities and motivations in life, but first, head to Barnard's Inn Hall in Holborn for a Gresham lecture about computation by humans and machines. Free, just turn up, 6pm

BOOKS: Canadian SF author Robert J Sawyer pops into Wood Green’s Big Green Bookshop to talk about his work. Free, prebook, 7pm

COMEDY: There are a handful of tickets left to see Chris Addison comedian at the Southbank Centre. £20 + bf, prebook, 7.30pm

POP QUIZ: If you know your music, try the Rough Trade Pop Quiz at the Lexington. £1, just turn up, 8pm

COMEDY: Peep Show’s Isy Suttie headlines Happy Mondays at the Amersham Arms in New Cross, with support from Robert White and Jarlath Regan. Holly Walsh is on MC duties. £5, just turn up, 8pm

Random London Fact of the Day
Two mildly surprising nuggets about The Serpentine lake in Hyde Park. 1) It's called 'The Serpentine' not because it's twisty (it has only one gentle bend), but because its colour reminded Queen Caroline — who ordered its creation — of a snake. 2) The Serpentine ends at the boundary between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. The stretch of lake in the latter is more properly referred to as 'The Long Water'.

Good Cause of the Day
Send tips to matt@londonist.com

Today's shout-out goes to GiveMeTap, a social enterprise helping to make Londoners' lives easier and greener while pumping profits into water projects in Africa. It works like this. Buy a GiveMeTap reusable water bottle for £12. You can then get free water refills from dozens of cafes, restaurants and other businesses around town, who display the scheme's sticker, while reducing the number of plastic bottles you use. But that's only half the equation. £6 from every sale goes toward providing drinking water in areas of Africa that desperately need it. Order your bottle today, here.

London Weather
A bright, sunny day marred somewhat by a low temperature and moderate winds. George Harrison pretty much summed it up, when he forecast "Here comes the sun and I say, it's alright". Today's sunshine is not glorious, but it's not disappointing either...simply 'alright', just as Harrison said. He was ever the most prescient of the Beatles. BBC Weather has more.